


Penny Parker Prompts

by TikamoinZeb



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Female Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Peter Parker Whump, Torture, Whumptober 2019, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2020-11-10 18:17:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20856155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TikamoinZeb/pseuds/TikamoinZeb
Summary: Collection of 2019 Whumptober prompts based around the character Penny Parker





	1. Shaky Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning I wrote this while procrastinating in my exposures and principles of rad class so...yeah. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning I wrote this while procrastinating in my exposures and principles of rad class so...yeah. Enjoy!
> 
> Also, i wrote this after Emily_F6 was talking about body positivity issues so I wanted to wrtie something to cheer them up

It starts with a simple comment. She was getting checked out by one of Mr.Starks doctors after a bad battle, and they decided to check up on all other aspects of her health to make sure her healing factor would work fine. Usually Penny doesn’t care about what people say about her, but this seemed to be stuck in her mind. 

“You’ve seemed to have gained some weight. It seems to all be muscle however, so your BMI is still within the healthy range, just a bit towards the overweight side. Nothing really to worry about, just be happy that’s it’s all good weight.”

At the time Penny was happy that she had more muscle now, maybe it would help with keeping her ambiguous. Plus after seeing the tweet with Simone Biles’ abs, she was hoping that maybe she could look as good as her...but now it feels wrong. When she looks at these girls and how beautiful and amazing as they look, Penny feels like she’s less than them. Less pretty, less capable, just less of a girl.

‘Penny you’re amazing just the way you are. This is just reinforced stereotypes every woman faces getting to your head’ she kept think and repeating in her head. When Penny was younger she knew she had body issues, wanting to be like the models she saw everywhere in New York thanks to advertisements being everywhere. May found out pretty quickly and said that to her on one of her bad days. After talking it out for a few hours, May told her how she had the same issues growing up. Eventually when she started dating Ben, May realized that every woman is different and beautiful in their own right, and that no one should feel like they are not enough. Penny fully believed her, and always thinks that every person it great in their own way no matter what they may look like on the outside, as long as they’re great on the inside.

However, looking at herself in the mirror, Penny can’t say the same about herself. She gotten a bit too big around her shoulders, and her legs are too snug in her skinny jeans. Penny liked wearing conservative clothes before, but after having Mr.Stark punching a cat caller from her building, she decided to get more comfortable clothing she’s seen other girls in her school wear. But seeing how ridiculous she looks makes her rethink what she should be wearing. Deciding to instead dig for an old sweatshirt and a more loose pair of jeans, Penny rushes to get ready for school. 

“I left breakfast in the counter! I’ll see you later tonight Pen! Love you!”

“Love you too, May!”

Hearing Aunt May leave the apartment, Penny goes to the kitchen, seeing some slightly burnt eggs on the counter. Deciding that she can eat later, she scrapes the eggs into the trash and rushes out the door. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It turns out that Penny can’t eat later since she had to study in the library with Ned during lunch for a Spanish quiz she forgot about. Dinner with May was nice, but the next morning she didn’t want to have burnt toast so she skipped again. And again. And again.

It’s not like Penny meant to skip meals. She just started feeling sick at the thought of eating. She knew it was dangerous with her metabolism to not eat, so she figured if she had more snacks instead she’d be fine. So far for the past week or so Penny has been trying to watch what she ate and spend time studying or patrolling instead. So far it’s worked out fine, and Penny has even noticed herself looking slimmer in her clothes.

A few times during patrol Penny has felt lightheaded, but it usually went away after a few seconds. Yesterday though after class ended, she stood up too fast and nearly blacked out. Ned has immediately noticed something wrong and started freaking out, but she was able to calm him down and said that she was just tired after a long night patrolling. Promising that nothing was wrong, they both went their separate ways and Penny went on to patrol that night until 2am...and now she was regretting that decision. Today was the day Penny was supposed to meet Mr.Stark for their lab day, and she hasn’t been able to focus on anything for more than five minutes. She’s felt shaky and hungry all day, but every time she thinks about eating she feels like she would throw up.

The bell rings interrupting Penny’s thoughts. Slowly standing up as to not get a repeat of yesterday, Penny makes her way out of the school and towards Happys car. Quickly sliding in and buckling up, she turns towards Happy and asks him about how his day has been. After the ferry incident they’ve grown a bit closer, and while he still doesn’t respond to most of her texts he does at least act friendly towards her now when they interact in real life. 

They lull into silence, but Happy keeps looking back towards Penny with worry. She asks Happy if there was something wrong, but he just shakes his head and turns his eyes back in the road. Soon the divider comes up between them, and Penny simply looks out the window while trying to stay focused. She sees the small snacks that are always stocked in Mr.Starks cars, and considers grabbing one. She can feel her stomach cramping, begging for food. But the thought makes her feel nauseous still, so she decides to grab one for later and leave it be.

Arriving at the tower, Penny gets out and says thanks to Happy through the window, hoping to get inside and get to the lab quickly. Once she gets into the elevator, she asks FRIDAY to bring her to the lab, but FRIDAY pauses before responding.

“Boss wants to see you in the common room first, Ms.Parker.”

Shrugging, Penny lets FRIDAY shoot her up tot eh common room instead. Sometimes Mr.Stark decided that they should hang out together before heading down, or as he calls it “quality spider-mentee time” 

Once she steps out she sees Mr.Stark standing in the kitchen, messing around with something behind the counter. She takes a seat across from him and sees a plate of sandwiches next to him, with another being made by the genius.

“Hey kiddo. Figured we’d eat before going down to the lab. I forgot to have breakfast earlier, and I can’t remember when I had dinner last night so”

With a pang of panic going down her spine, Penny tries responding “Ah, that’s ok Mr.Stark! You can go ahead and eat, I had lunch earlier at school and grabbed a snack while in Happys car so I should be fine for now. But thank you anyway for the food! I’ll probably eat later anyway once I get home to May since she’s working a double shift tonight and said that she’ll probably pick up Thai food for us. You know how she tends to burn food any-“

“Let me stop you right there Pen. I doubt that you ate lunch today, let alone at much at all for the past week. That’s why I’ve decided that we’re gonna have some lunch together, and you’re gonna explain what’s been going on”

Knowing that she was stuck, Penny remained silent while waiting for Mr.Stark to finish piling everything on a plate. Once he was done, he also grabbed a bowl of carrots and serving of hummus and set everything between the two of them.

Penny tried grabbing and eating a sandwich but she felt like she was eating sand. Seeing the emotions on her face, Mr.Stark grabbed her shaky hands and pulled her towards him. Allowing herself to be dragged into a half hug, she puts down her food and looks down, feeling ashamed of herself. First she can’t help but gain weight, and now she can’t even eat a simple meal. Her thoughts keep going in a downward spiral before Mr.Stark takes her chin and gently forces her to meet his eyes. 

“What’s going on, honey? Last week you were bouncing around everywhere, full of energy. Now you’re practically vibrating, and not in a good way. Not to mention that you look like you’ve lost a lot of weight, which is definitely not good. Is there something going on? Do you guys not have enough food at home? Has Mays cooking finally scared you for life?”

Smiling slightly, Penny tried to respond without crying “I’ve just been trying to cut back on how much I eat. You know how much I eat in one sitting, and I figured that I could stand to eat less and be more like everyone else. It would help during school too since then I don’t have to keep buying so much while in the cafe and deal with the mean lunch lady who flares every time I load up my lunch tray. Plus since the doctor who was checking me over last week mentioned that my BMI has gone up and that I’m starting to get towards the overweight line-“ Penny freezes once she realizes what she’s said, and feels Mr.Stark do the same with his arm still around her. Scared of how he will react, she tries to turn away again but isn’t able to make it far.

“So that’s what this has been about huh? Penny, you shouldn’t have to feel this way about yourself. You’re beautiful they way you are, no matter what faulty statistics say. That scale has always been screwed up, and even if you weren’t what some people consider perfect or beautiful, they don’t matter. You’re you honey, and you are one of the most kind, beautiful, intelligent and perfect women I have ever met. No matter what you may look like, or whatever people may say, you are you. And there’s no better you out there.”

She couldn’t hold back her tears anymore as she hugged him tightly, silently sobbing into his shoulder. Mr.Stark held her just as tightly as he continued.

“When I was younger the media watched everything I did. That included having to deal with the constantly making comments about my appearance. While I’ve learned to ignore what they say and move past what people think, I’ve had my own problems with body positivity. I went through crazy diets and weird workout regimens that my father forced on me, but in the end I know that they don’t matter. What matters is doing what I love, when I want, with the people I love. And that includes you too sweetie. And I love you the way you are, and one day you will learn to too.”

Penny kept crying into Mr.Starks shoulder, but her heart already felt so much lighter. While she can’t change how she feels now, Penny hopes that one day she will feel happy with her own body. But already she knows that she can be happy with Mr.Stark by her side.


	2. Explosion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Small amount of whump, really just fluff. Whoops. Also, wanted to write some good old Sam & Penny wholesomeness, so....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late! I tired writing it early but i hated how it came out so i tried to fix it but now its too late and at this point I've got what I've got. So, sorry again, and enjoy!

Penny was happy this morning. She got to stop a wanna-be robber last night, and woke up on time for once. She even got to eat breakfast with her aunt May before catching a seat on the subway. Overall this morning was looking great, and Penny was able to smile and enjoy it. But of course that couldn't last for long.

Dr.Doom and his doom bots decided to start popping up and cause havoc everywhere. The Avengers were already on scene when Penny was able to make it down to the scene. Mr.Stark quickly patched her in and let Cap set up the plan.

“Spider-Girl, I want you to team up with Falcon and keep the bots contained. Don’t engage, just try to get their attention and get them back into the main fight. Iron Man and Hawkeye are taking them down. We already did crowd control, but be wary of any stragglers.”

“You got it Mr. Captain America Sir!”

“Kid, it’s Cap. Or old man. Or capsicle if you’re up for it”

Laughing, Penny swings into action, already seeing Falcon directing a group of bots into Hawkeyes line of fire. Penny decides to help him out and chase his tail to keep any of them from straying out too far. They manage to keep good control over the aerial battle, keeping everything contained in just a few blocks. Sam keeps teasing her that’s she’s his sidekick, but she reminds him that without her they wouldn’t even get half as many bots contained. There’s been barely any surrounding damage, and once Penny starts thinking that maybe the battle is finally starting to die down, everything goes sideways. 

A few dozen drones start flying around, carrying explosives. They seemed to be targeting nearby buildings, but when Mr.Stark tried getting closer to one it automatically detonated. Cap patched in again and started changing tactics. 

“Stark, Hawkeye I need to to start targeting those drones. We can’t let them keep destroying these building or one of them is gonna fall. Spider-Girl, Falcon stay on the perimeter. See if you can web them up, otherwise get the last of the Doombots. Nat and I will finish up down here.”

Karen cuts off the feed once Cap finishes his orders. Before Penny can start firing after the drones however, Mr.Stark calls her up without the others listening in. 

“Listen Pen, I don’t want you to get close to these things. If you think you can web them up far enough away the go for it, but do not engage. Got it?”

Rolling her eyes, she responds quickly “It’s fine Mr.Stark. You know that I can hit then from far away without getting close. Plus, my spidey sense can tell me when one gets too close anyway! I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.”

“We’ll see kid. And I thought your Aunt called it the Penny tingle?”

“Please stop calling it that! It makes it feel...dirty. Just no Mr.Stark”

Hearing Mr.Stark laugh, Penny shakes her head and jumps back into action. It turns out she can web up the drones, but the detonate anyway once her webs come into contact. Figuring out that they are most likely touch or space sensitive, Penny tried to quickly web up the drones and then toss them straight up into the air before the detonate to get them away from anything surrounding the fight. 

Unfortunately, it seems that with every drone they catch, another takes its place. Penny is already feeling the drain from the fight when her spidey sense warns her of danger. Rather than seeing anything around her however, Penny spots multiple drones following Sam as he’s chasing the last of the Doombots. Forgetting what Cap and Mr.Stark said, she immediately dives straight for Sam while trying to get his attention. 

“Sam, watch it! Drones, behind you!”

Before Sam can even turn around, Penny sends a kick towards his armored chest, sending out of the way from the drones. Before Penny can move, they explode behind her.

Penny feels heat and pain. It hurts. It hurts it’s hurts it Hurts. She opens her eyes, not realizing that she had closed them. At first everything is just blurry, and Penny wants to just close them and wait for everything to stop spinning. A few seconds later though she realizes her surrounds aren’t spinning. She’s falling. Jerking awake, Penny tried to fire a web at anything around her, but nothing catches. It’s till to blurry and she can’t focus and she’s falling and HELP. 

Her hearing comes back and she realizes that she’s screaming for help, and that other people are screaming too. Everything is still confusing and it’s too much but she starts to see something coming right towards her. She remembers the fight and goes to punch whatever is coming towards her, but it hurts too much to move now. Whatever comes after her grabs her, and Penny is too tired to move. She lets herself fall limp, and starts closing her eyes. She can still hear someone screaming, and something starts reaching for her face but she passes out before she feels anything. 

~~~~~~~~

When Penny wakes up, the first thing she feels is pain. She knows she’s felt this pain before, and groans when she tries moving into a more comfortable position. Feeling something pulling on her hand, she opens her eyes and looks down to see an IV line sticking into her. Grimacing away, she next spots a familiar head of hair next to her hand. 

She starts to reach for Mr.Stark to wake him up, but decided against it. While it’s probably not comfortable for him to be sleeping like that, it’s better than what Mr.Stark usually gets, falling asleep down on the cold hard lab tables. Hearing someone clear their throat on Pennys other side, she quickly turns to find Sam. Looking at her. There’s a smile on his face, but she can see the worry in his eyes and bags in his face. 

“Hey hun. How you feeling?”

Penny goes to respond that she’s fine, but seeing the now calculating look on his face, and knowing that he would argue with her if she tried lying, she instead shrugs. Sam nods understandingly and leans forward towards her.

“Listen, I don’t know how much you remember, but I wanna say this before anything else happens. Thank you. You saved me from those exploding drones, and kept me from getting injured. But if you ever try anything like that again, I will personally hunt you down myself. You saved me, but got injured instead. After the explosion you plummeted about 30ft, and I didn’t catch you before you hit you would’ve cracked your skull on the pavement. I almost didn’t make it to you in time, and every second that you were falling I was terrified of anything happening to you. Once we finally landed you wouldn’t wake up, and I wasn’t sure if I snapped your neck trying to catch you. It took a lot of doctors and a lot of hours to get you into non-critical state. I know I’m probably scarring you right no, but just know that if you ever scare me like that again I’ll make sure you face that kind of terror on your own. Your my sister, and I’m supposed to protect you. Not the other way around kid”

Smiling at Sam, Penny shook her head and responded “I saved you because I care about you too. I’m sorry that I scarred you so much, but I’m not sorry for what I did. I wasn’t about to let my big bro get blown up by some crappy little robots when I could stop them myself. I know you’d do the same, so it’s only fair that I do help protect you.”

Sam shakes his head at her, seeming to be in disbelief over what she said. He grabs her hand and smiles at her, content to just be sitting in silence. 

That didn’t last long as Mr.Stark started to wake up, first not really aware of his surrounding until Penny reaches over with her other hand and holds onto him. Mr.Stark jolts awake then and looks at Penny, his red eyes telling her that he’s either been up late or crying. Or both. Mr.Stark quickly lets go of her hand and engulfs her in a hug, checking her over and asking her again and again if she’s ok. Once he’s done with his mama bear routine, he starts going off in his own story worry and threats, but Penny is just happy to have both of her boys by her side, safe and sound. She might be hurt, but if it means that everyone else is ok, then it’s worth it to her.


	3. Delirium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not exactly delirium, and not exactly a full whump fic but close enough I guess...enjoy!

Tony thought that he was going to be sick. Looking down at Penny, and remembering what happened over the past few hours, Tony had a hard time keeping his dinner down. Turning away from the scene in front of him, he leaves the med bay and heads down to his private lab. He spots the bar in the common room on his way, but the thought of alcohol nearly made him vomit then and there. Sinking into his chair, Tony finally breaks down. He can’t decide whether to cry for hours or scream with rage and it’s all wrong and it’s all his fault and-

Letting go of all his emotions Tony remembered what happened. 

~~~~~~~~~~

It started with another battle for them to fight. Another weird villain promising to take over the world blah blah blah. Tony normally would be bored out of his mind fighting this B-Rate nobody. Thankfully the kid decided to join the fight, and while Tony should’ve sent her home, he decided that it was a simple enough fight for them to team up on. Since the rest of the Avengers were off on other missions, and Tony figured they could entertain each other as they fought. Penny always had good comebacks to whatever the villains wouldn’t shut up about, and they were both smart enough to figure out ‘alternative’ (fun) ways to deal with situations. 

After barely five minutes they had the Villain contained and minimal damage to the surrounding area. It was odd, however, about what damage did happen. Tony was barely paying attention to the fight, but he noticed now that there was residue from the villains weapon that was stuck to the ground and surrounding buildings. From where Tony could see, it was like some kind of tar or slime. Calling for FRIDAY to send down a cleaning crew, Tony left the scene with Penny swinging alongside him, heading off to his tower. 

They started their own ritual after battle for Penny to get checked out by his doctors, and then grab dinner together until May finished work. It started after Tony apologized for the ferry incident. While he was right to be angry over her holding together an entire ferry by herself, nearly tearing her own body apart, he never told the kid that he believed her or about the FBI being involved. She thought that he wouldn’t take the situation seriously, and while listening to a teenager about something as odd as alien weapon black markets sounds insane, Tony could have at least let her know that he believed her. Now they agree to be honest with each other, and while they have a rocky understanding of that, at least they try together. 

After Tony landed he turned to the kid to ask what she wanted for dinner, but saw her stumbling around the edge of the building. While he felt a pang of worry shoot through him, he figured that it was probably the adrenaline from the fight wearing off. Telling FRIDAY to place their usual pizza order, Tony steers Penny towards the elevator while making sure she was ok. Tony didn’t see her get hit by any attacks, and she knows to dodge anyway thanks to her sensing tingle thing. Hoping that it was nothing, Tony strikes up a conversation about school and listens to Penny as she goes on about how she had a Spanish quiz that she passed and was studying with her friend Ted. Once they reach the med bay he leaves her to the care of his skilled doctors and goes down to his lab to check on both their suits. 

Tony’s nanotech worked fine and sustained no damage, so he didn’t have to manufacture any nanites thankfully. Checking over the Spider-Girl suit, Tony saw some of the same weird goo from before on the spider emblem. Deciding to simply scrape off the stuff, Tony set up FRIDAY to scan the substance for anything dangerous. Plus, once FRIDAY is fine and if it’s harmless, he could mess with the kid and ask if it’s from that new slime craze on Instagram or whatever. 

Penny was fine after her checkup, although they found more of the weird goo on her apparently. The substance was sent or be examined as well, but since there have been no adverse effects so far they should be in the clear. They continued on with their ritualistic unwinding time. Letting the kid choose the movie Tony grabbed the pizzas from the elevator and sat back to relax with his kid. 

After the first movie Tony noticed Penny falling asleep, so he threw a blanket over her and quietly told FRI to lower the lights. Settling down himself, Tony watched the rest of them movie before finally falling asleep. 

It was a few hours later when Tony woke up, his own body protesting leaving the comfort from the couch. Looking over to where Penny was sleeping, Tony only saw the blanket resting on the couch. Looking around, he could see a shadow walking around in the kitchen. Figuring that Penny’s supermetablosm woke her up, Tony was about to lie down again when he heard Penny mumbling. Getting closer, he saw that she was swaying around everywhere, mumbling to herself. Grabbing her shoulder, Tony felt a lot of heat coming through her sweaty tank top. 

Suddenly, Penny turned around and swung at Tony. It was easy for the man to dodge, but Penny nearly face planted after following through her swing. Tony grabbed onto her shoulders and lowered them both to the floor, yelling at FRIDAY to turn on the lights. While Penny flinched away from the brightness and tried to wiggle out of his arms, Tony got a better look at her and felt his stomach drop. 

Penny was covered in sweat and radiating heat from her body. From what he could see around the tank top, there was a sickly purple tinge around her chest and shoulders. Prying her eyes open, Tony could see fully blown pupils, along with some haze clouding over her sight. Tony yelled at FRIDAY to get the med bay ready and scan Penny for whatever was going on. 

He tried hauling the delirious girl to her feet but that proved a challenge. She was uncooperative and seemed like she was trying to escape. Giving up and hooking her in a bridal carry, Tony sprinted into the elevator and out onto the med bay floor. Letting her rest on a stretcher, the med team immediately started working on her, calling out a million things at once, further terrifying the man of iron. He was about to tell FRI to get in contact with Bruce to see if he could help with the alien artifact when Penny suddenly started seizing. 

Tony wanted to run forward and comfort the poor girl while at the same time wanting to turn away and pretend that this wasn’t happening. He got shoved out of the room by a nurse and couldn’t help but stare at the scene. It was when they finally pulled the curtains that Tony stumbles away and ends up where he is now, in his lab having a mental breakdown over his poor kid being stuck in the med bay, hopefully getting some form of help. 

Realizing that him sitting here isn’t helping her currently, Tony gets FRIDAY to print out the results form her scans so far on the foreign substance. He gets her to call Bruce and gets him on his way to the tower as quickly as possible while Tony tries his luck at figuring out how to help his kid. He doesn’t care what he has to do or how many hours it takes, he’ll do his damned best to make sure Penny comes out of this. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s many hours later that Tony and Bruce are able to distinguish that the tar like goo was a transdermal poison and were able to create some form of cure for Penny. Thankfully his team in the med bay was able to hold her steady through some concoction of drugs and machines while they figured out how to create a cure. 

Waiting now by her side, Tony can see already that the glowing purple rash has gone away, and that she already is looking more like herself. Deciding to give in, Tony runs his hand through her hair and gently whispers to her. 

“You know Pen, you scarring men like this ain’t good for my heart. I’m already an old man with my own heart issues, I don’t need you giving me a heart attack here.”

Sighing, Tony leans against the head of her bed and continues his monologue. 

“Please, honey, please just wake up for me. You can do that, right? That’s all I’m asking you. Open up those eyes and let me see you’re ok. Please, please just be ok.”

Feeling her move, Tony shoots up and looks at her face. Once she opens her eyes he feels himself sag in relief, silently thanking whatever powers in the universe exist for letting him have his kid be ok. Seeing her give him a tired smile, he returns one of his one, happy to just be sitting there smiling with his kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna make this a Venom story but decided against it last minute. Ended up a bit weird but meh.


	4. Human Shield

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Listen don't blame me I had this thought while watching Yeet videos from Vine

When Penny was young she always dreamed of being a superhero. Before the days of Iron Man and an alive Captain America, she acted out her favorite scenes from Wonder Woman. Running around with a (plastic) sword and shield strapped to her back, blocking imaginary bullets with her wrists. 

Once Iron Man and the Avengers came to be, Penny realized that the heroes from her comics were not the same as the heroes they have in real life. They get hurt, beat up, even blown up and shot at like everyone else in the world. But even when that happens, heroes stand up and keep fighting. That’s what makes them heroes. 

Once she became Spider-Girl, Penny made a promise to herself. She would never allow someone to go through the grief she did with her uncle Ben. For weeks Penny barely functioned, mainly going through the motions of the day to help her aunt May. May was taking it so much worse, and yet had refused to take a day off after the funeral, making sure she could revise for her family. Penny couldn’t help her aunt May with a job or money, but she could at least help others as Spider-Girl. No matter what it took or what she had to do, she would not let something like that happen to anyone. She knows that she can’t save everyone, but that won’t stop her from trying her hardest to help whoever she can. 

After teaming up with Iron Man and getting to know all of the Avengers, Penny gained more family to care about. While nothing could ever replace her uncle Ben, Mr.Stark became a father figure for her took look up to (more than she already did when she was younger). The rest of the Avengers were her aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters. She felt accepted and loved when she was with them. And she loved them as much as she loved her aunt, knowing that she’d do anything to protect them. 

It was a slow day at the tower. Penny had come over to help in the lab, but Cap had called an Avengers meeting in the common room. Rather than some new bug threat or mission for them all to debrief in, it was their monthly team bonding night. This time it was cards night, and it was extremely hard to play considering how she was up against three spies, three geniuses, a literal mind reader and a robot. But that never took away the fun, especially since everyone got so heated over the games. 

Penny felt a weird tingle at the back of her neck, and figured it was someone trying to read her cards again, she ignored it. However, barely a minute later her spidey sense screamed at her so loudly she flinched, unable to tell what the danger was or where it was coming from. Letting her body take over, she felt her sense forcing her to stand up and suddenly lunge towards Sam and Doctor Strange. Both of them were the closest to the window, and she suddenly pulled them out of their seats and shoved them towards the back corner of the common room. 

Before anyone else could react Penny had already latched onto Wanda and Viz with her webs, Penny thankful she still kept her shooters on her while she was playing, and yanked them towards everyone else. Suddenly the common rooms windows shattered as an explosion hit the building, sending everyone to their feet. 

Penny still in autopilot mode shot her webs at everyone she could, shoving them behind the kitchen counters and covering then with webs. She took the dining room table they were playing at and flipped it over, using it as a shield while trying to see what was attacking them. While everyone else shouted at Penny, she saw about two dozen people outside in a small helicarrier with a HYDRA logo. She moved from the table she was hiding behind and ran over to the couches, grabbing one of the smaller ones and launching it out the window towards them. While she didn’t want to kill the agents shooting at them, she could at least distract them enough to grab then with her webs and stop the shooting. 

Latching onto two of the shooters, she slammed them together against the wall closest to Penny, rendering both of them unconscious. Hearing Doctor Strange opening a portal, Penny quickly grabbed onto two more people and stuck them both together over the edge of the building, attaching her webs to the remaining window frame. Before Penny could grab onto the remaining ones she felt someone grab into her shoulders and pull her backwards. She looked up to see Mr.Stark holding onto her, trying to call FRIDAY to get one of his suits and get security up again. 

Realizing that FRIDAY was down, Penny shouted out a sorry and threw Mr.Stark behind the overturned coffee table. As she saw him go flying she looked out for anyone else to worry about, and only saw Wanda and Doctor Strange actively going after the HYDRA agents, while Viz was trying to get FRIDAY back online by one of the access ports in the kitchen. Everyone else was still stuck in her webs thankfully, and figuring that since everyone else could at least create some kind of shield, Penny took on two more agents before rushing back to Mr.Stark who was yelling at her to hide already. 

Before she could get them both behind the kitchen counter and get Mr.Stark to stay there, Penny felt her Spidey Sense scream at her again and realized that one of the agents had them in their sights. Grabbing onto Mr.Stark, penny quickly forced him behind her and faced the bullets head on, acting as a human shield to protect her father figure. 

She felt the first two bullets rip through her shoulder, and the next hit her in the leg. She nearly dropped to her knees, but Mr.Stark grabbed onto her by her waist, hauling both of them into the kitchen. Feeling the pain spreading through her body, Penny wanted to scream. But she knew that she couldn’t give up yet. She looked back and saw everyone trying to get out and help with the fight, but Penny knew she couldn’t let that happen. 

She loves everyone here with everything she has, never wanting to see them get hurt. Remembering everything they’ve done for each other, and how much it hurt when she felt Uncle Ben die, Penny knew that she had to stand up and be a hero right now. Sticking Mr.Stark with everyone else again, she yelled that she was sorry and went back towards the fight. 

Swinging out the window, she landed on the helicarrier and let her body take control again. Disarming one of the HYDRA agents, she took the gun and smashed against another’s face, then threw then both out and towards Doctor Strange who already had a portal open that Wanda was shoving agents into as well. Another bullet grazed Pennys side as she punched an agent across the face, kneeing their chest as they bent forward. Dodging more oncoming fire, she swung outside and around the carrier to kick two agents in the face and out of the other side. Webbing up all three, she threw them towards the open windows while watching Wanda grab a handful more guys with her magic. Finally almost done, she tries to swing back inside when a bullet snaps he web, making her plummet. She webs the side of the building and builds up moment to swing around again while looking at who was shooting. Seeing a sniper with their gun trained on someone inside the building, she quickly swings up, letting go of her web and kick the gun out of his hand. 

Unfortunately, she’s unable to dodge the knife he slashed her with, and gets a deep cut from her left hip to lower right ribs, feeling her flesh tear at the motion. Unable to hold back her scream, she ignores the last of the people and collapse back into the common room. Feeling her pain catch up with her again, Penny mains and crawls into a fetal position, ignoring everyone around her as she feels the blood pool around her. As black spots take over her vision, Penny thinks about her family and give into the black calling her name. 

~~~~~~~~~~

When Penny opens her eyes, at first all she sees is nothing. There’s a clear sky above her, and she’s standing in a field of wheat that has no end. She hears someone call her name behind her, and turns around to see her uncle. Ben stands there, looking at Penny with love and resignation in his eyes. Running forward, she engulfs him in a hug, feeling tears stinging her eyes. 

She asks what he’s doing here, but he just shakes his head. Instead he tells her “You’ve come a long way, Penny. I didn’t expect to see you for a long, long time. Or at least, that’s what I was hoping for.”

Confused, she shakes her head and is about to ask him what he means, when she remembers everything. The shooting, the fight, getting stabbed, collapsing on the ground. She looks up at his eyes, and understands sees a sad look in his eyes. 

She tries asking him instead “Is this the end? Did I die?”

Smiling, Ben asks in return “Do you want to? Do you want this to be your end?”

Leading her way towards a lake, he sits down and waits for her to join him.

“I’ve been watching over you and May. I know both of you have struggled, but seeing you grow from my cute, shy little niece into the beautiful hero you are now, I can’t help but be proud. You’ve done so much good down there, and have changed so many lives without you even realizing. You didn’t do this for the fame, or money or anything. You did this out of the goodness of your heart. You should be proud to. Not everyone could do that. Including your new family.”

Penny folds into herself, about to explain everything when Ben continues. “I’ve seen that too, how you’ve made your own family for yourself. And I’m glad that you’ve found that love for yourself. May and I tried to provide you with as much live and support as we could give, and now seeing your own family doing the same is amazing. You deserve this Penny, you deserve your family and the love they give. Never doubt that. Now, your family down there is worried about you. It’s up to you what you should do, but I think you’ve still got some unfinished business down there. Go down. Be with your family. I’ll be waiting up here for you and May when the times ready. For now, I’ll keep watching.”

Before Penny can respond the world starts to fade away. She yells out to Ben that she loves him, and that she won’t give up. Hoping that he heard her, she closes her eyes and give in to the blackness once again. 

When she starts waking up again, she first feels the pain from the fight returning to her. There’s also a sudden pain in her chest that continues, spreading throughout her body. Feeling the need to breathe, she opens her mouth and gasps for air, and feels the pain in her chest lessen. Someone shoved their fingers against her neck, and she groans out at all the pain she feels. Hearing suddenly coming back, she knows that someone above her head audibly gasps, along with a million other noises surrounding her. Before she can open her eyes someone grabs her and pulls her into a hug. Letting herself be hugged, she allows a soft smile to overtake her face and falls back into the blackness. She can wait to see Ben again, she’s still got her own family down here to worry about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently I haven't been whumpy enough, so I made this story to compensate for that. I was gonna end with Penny dying, but decided that I wanted instead for her to still be with her family. It's been ripped away from her enough times, this time she can at least choose to stay.


	5. Gunpoint

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really short chapter, so sorry for that! Enjoy!

Run run run, shit shit shit. Keep running, just keep running. There’s gotta be an end around here somewhere. What was the trick? Always take left turns? Or was that right? Stupid maze. They need to get out of here already. Tony shifted his arms, pushing Penny up further on his back. Letting go of trying to think logically, he runs down a random corridor, his gun dangling by his hip. 

He hears running behind him, and screams coming from other people surrounding him. Penny tightens her arms around his shoulders, sticking to him by her spidey stick...thing. She had her own gun pouting behind them, agreeing to use her spidey sense to alert them to danger. Feeling her tug in his arm, he knows that whatever’s behind them is getting too close. 

Suddenly a black figure jumps down in front of them, cutting off their escape route. Tony starts backing up when Penny shouts out, apparently that route has been cut off too. Tony heads Penny fire her gun while Tony reaches for his own, but the other person is quicker, already pointing their gun straight at Tony’s chest. Before the other person could fire, however Penny shoots her gun straight at the figures chest. 

Seeing their chest plate light up red, Tony laughs at Bucky's attempt at hitting them and continues down the maze, asking Penny who had tried to sneak behind them. 

“Sam thought that if Bucky distracted us he could hit us from behind. Thank god we thought of teaming up this way! This is great!”

“Yeah yeah kid. Shouldn’t we switch soon? My arms are starting to get tired lugging you around you know.”

Laughing, Penny slides off Tony’s back once they reach a corner and switches spots with him, using her stickiness again to hold Tony up this time. Running much faster than he was before, Penny is able to clear out corridors quicker while letting Tony man both guns, warning him whenever her Spidey Sense warns her of oncoming danger. They take out Wanda and Viz along the way, both of them too busy laughing together in a corner to realize that someone was sneaking up on them. Penny felt her sense warn her and was able to locate Clint in the rafters above them, getting Tony to shoot him out. 

Seeing the end in sight, Penny rushes forward and gets out of the laser tag maze. Tony slides off her back and they celebrate, seeing that they were the only team that made it without being eliminated. Only Nat and Strange were left, with both of their respective partners shot out. Flipping the switch, FRIDAY turned on the light and announced the winners, guiding everyone out of the maze. 

“Alright everyone. Good game and all that. Looks like myself and Pen here are the winners, unsurprising of course.”

“Cmon Stark, we know you guys probably cheated. After all, you built this stuff anyway so it’s not that surprising”

Tony shook his head and was about to respond to Clint when Penny suddenly took her gun and shot Clint in the center of his chest. 

“Actually, Pigeoneye FRIDAY is programmed to randomize every piece of the maze however she decides, thus letting no one have any advantage. Not to mention that you were the one hiding up in the ceiling, which is cheating since you could be scouting where the end of the maze is. So maybe next time if you play by the rules you could do better.”

Everyone was speechless for a second before Sam broke out in laughter, nearly falling over from laughing so hard. Everyone else joins in and Clint sticks his tongue out at Penny. Before anything else can happen, Tony announces around his own laughter:

“Enough of that now. Time for us to take a pizza break already. We can continue this argument later, first is victors have to go and celebrate.”

Marching off, Tony throws his arm around Penny, letting his own happiness wash over him. Feeling Penny throw her own arm around him, they both smile and let themselves enjoy the moment.


	6. Dragged Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s late, changed some stuff last minute. Tumblr was so weird, and got weird requests from there. Anyway, enjoy!

Penny woke up groaning. Her head was killing her, and her bed was cold underneath her for some reason. Reaching over to her night stand, Penny reaches for her alarm clock when her hand misses and she slaps the floor instead. Opening her eyes, Penny realizes that she’s resting on the floor, and that she’s not in her apartment. There’s a bright light above her and some speakers hanging on the ceiling above, letting out a high pitched whine. That at least explained the alarm clock confusion, but now she was left wondering where exactly she was.

Shifting onto her elbows, Penny saw that she was in a room with three concrete walls, and a glass wall across from her. There was a door in one corner of the room, with a small slot cut out on the bottom of it. Hearing a groan across from her, Penny looked through the glass wall and saw many other rooms similar to her own, with their own people lying on the ground. All together there was three across from her, and most likely six all together, with a small hallway in between. She can hear the ringing coming from the other rooms as well, waking up everyone else.

Across from Penny is Mr.Stark, and when he starts waking up Penny hears him groan. Once he gets up and looks around him, he spots Penny and freezes. She waves at him with her attempt at a smile, and adverts her gaze before he can try and say anything. She spots Sam to the left, talking to whoever is across from him, and Steve to the right, looking around his room. Mr.Stark kept trying to get Penny attention, nearly shouting her name.

Before she could respond, a door opening to their little boxes opened, shedding more light into the small hallway. Some armed guards came out, along with a man in a (badly) fitted suit. He walked with an air of importance, but she could see Sam rolling his eyes. He stopped in the middle of the small hallway, standing between her and Mr.Starks cubes, blocking her off from seeing him. The man turned towards Mr.Stark and started to speak.

“Welcome, welcome. I’m so glad to have you all here. Took a lot to get you here, you know. My poor men are so tired from lugging your unconscious bodies everywhere. You could have at least put up a fight before we took you. But then again, I suppose it was easier than having to deal with anyone trying to stop us. So, i'm sure you're all wondering why you are here. We shall get to that, but first I want to play a small game with all of you.”

Walking towards the far side of the cubes, he lets the guards walk in front of everyone, pointing their guns towards the center of their cells.

“Each of you are across from someone you care about. Some of you are cared about more than others, which makes this all the more fun. Each of you need to pick someone that is going to be experimented on first. You cannot pick yourself, and you cannot refuse to choose. The pairs, for everyone who cannot see, are Captain Rogers and the Winter Soldier, Mr.Stark and Spider-Girl, and Mr.Wilson and Ms.Romanoff. We shall start with Mr.Wilson here, and continue until we have a clear person here who is the most expendable. Let's start.”

Already Sam was shaking his head, but before he could say anything the man added into the rules:

“I forgot to say, if you refuse to say or choose yourself, we will shoot the person across from you. If you try and escape as well, we will shoot the person across from you as well as yourself. Choose wisely.”

Sam hesitated then, darting his eyes everywhere, seeming to calculate who he should choose. Staring at the person across from him, Sam decfinally makes his decision. “Natasha”

“Interesting choice. Now we shall go to the Captain Rogers.”

Penny could see Cap struggling with himself, not wanting to choose anyone to be experimented on. Giving in, he gives out a sigh before saying a defeated “Tony”

“Predictable, especially after that whole civil war fiasco. So, Ms.Romanoff, we come over to you.”

Penny saw Cap flinch at the mans words, hanging his head. A few seconds later Penny hears from her left “Bucky” 

“Hmm, wasn't expecting this choice. Not disappointed though, not disappointed. Soldier, we are up to you now.”

Once the man was done speaking, Penny saw Sam nod his head, and heard a second later Bucky whisper out “Sam”

“I suppose that was the most predictable choice. Mr.Stark, your choice now. Choose wisely.”

Penny couldn't see Mr.Stark, but she was able to hear the long sigh he let out. After nearly a minute later she could hear him let out “Steve”

The man walked back into the center of the room, nodding his head. He held his hands together as he started repeating what had been picked.

“Mr.Wilson has chosen Ms.Romanoff, while Ms.Romanoff has chosen the Winter Soldier. The soldier had then chosen Mr.Wilson, out of retaliation perhaps? Then we come to the Captain choosing Mr.Stark, and Mr.Stark choosing the Captain. Very predictable there, although it was a toss up between Mr.Rogers or the Winter Soldier getting chosen by Mr.Stark here. Now, all that's left is the youngest member of the team, Spider-Girl. Now, Ms.Parker, this would be the point where i would ask you to choose someone to be experimented on. But I know I cannot do that with you.”

Penny stared confused at the man, sure that he was going to force her to choose someone. Penny knew that there wasn't anyone she was willing to force to be experimented on, and almost felt a weight lift off her chest when he said she didn't have to choose. Now she was worried what it meant now.

“I wanted to see if anyone would choose you Ms.Parker. See if anyone could condemn you to experimentation. While there were the obvious choices that some would make, it still left the question if anyone would choose you at all. Of course, this little game wasn't really to choose who would be experimented on. We already know who we want, we just wanted to see what the other would choose.”

Signaling for the guard pointing his gun into her cell, the guard took a step back as the door slid open.

“We have to choose you, Ms.Parker, considering how your abilities are the newest and least known. Not to mention you being younger than everyone else, and least experienced yet least injured makes you the most intriguing. Take her, and strap her in. I want to know everything about her. Oh, and Penny, my dear, please don't struggle. We wouldn't want anyone's fingers to slip and accidentally shoot.”

Penny felt her Spidey Sense scream at her as the guard came closer to her, but she kept completely still, scared that she would cause someone to get shot. She heard everyone else yelling out their protests, Mr.Stark being the loudest, threatening to kill the man once he got out. The man simply laughed and turned to face Mr.Stark head on.

“I suggest you watch your tongue there Mr.Stark. My guards have been very tempted in playing with Ms.Parker here. You threatening me doesn't help deter their curiosity.”

Penny immediately felt sick to her stomach, and she could see Mr.Stark feeling the same, barely holding a hand to his mouth as he gagged. Sam started screaming out to Penny not to let them scare her and that she would be ok, they would get her out as soon as they could. Everyone else were either too shocked to say anything or were to busy threatening the man as they dragged her away, out of the hallway and into a room that had a table in the middle with straps hanging off the sides, surrounded by other tables with various medical equipment spread across them.

Penny was quickly laid on the table and strapped in, her entire body shaking. She refused to give into their threats, but she was still terrified of what they were going to do with her. The man stepped forward again and laid his head down next to hers, whispering for her to hear.

“I can not wait until we can start. I want to see everything inside of you, how you function, how you are able to be the supposed hero you are. Don’t worry, I don't care about your sexual escapades. I just need your fellow ‘heroes’ to stay in line as we work together here. Though i can say hearing their own screaming was delightful. Not as much as yours is going to be, however.”

Penny refused to acknowledge the man next to her, instead trying to psyche herself up for whatever was about to happen. She didn't want to give into the experimentation ,but she knew she had no choice if she wanted to keep everyone safe. So she promised herself that she couldn't scream or cry when they did experiment on her.

She lasted for nearly ten minutes until she gave in and started screaming. Unable to hold back anymore, she screamed until her throat was raw, feeling her tears run down her cheeks. They cut every limb in her body, rubbed salt in her wounds, shocked her upper torso to watch her reactions, threw hot water on her legs. All the while they were recording every reaction she had, how her body responded, how quickly it began healing itself, everything they wanted to research.

It took over an hour later for the door leading to the room to blow off its hinges, Iron Man appearing in its place. Mr.Stark started shooting at everyone in the room as Sam ran in, immediately going towards Penny. He unstrapped her from the table as Nat grabbed some towels,wrapping them around her and covering her wounds. 

Once the people around the room were all down, Mr.Stark clawed his way out of the Iron Man suit, running over to Penny. He cradled her head as they tried to clean her up and able to be moved. He had his own tears running down his cheeks, apologizing over and over for letting this happen to her. Penny shook her head, unable to reassure him that it wasn't his fault. Natasha let them know that she was stable, and that they had to get out of there. Tony stepped back into his armor, carefully picking her up, apologizing again when she flinched from the movement.

As they were flying back to the tower, apparently only half an hour away, Mr.Stark kept mostly silent. Penny could feel her body stitching itself back together, slowly but surely. When she felt her throat was ok, she tried talking to him.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give in. I’m so sorry.”

Mr.Stark looked down at her with his mask, not letting her know what he was thinking. Afraid that she had disappointed him, Penny lowered her head down, afraid that she had done something wrong. Mr. Stark quickly opened his faceplate, looking down at her with fear and love mixed in his eyes.

“Penny, please, never apologize for this. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from this. I shouldn't have let this happen. I just wanted you to be alright, all of us did. None of us knew they were targeting you. I would’ve traded places with you in a heartbeat. I'm so sorry honey.”

“No. I’m not sorry for it happening to me. I wasn't about to subject any of you to this.”

At Mr.Starks fearful face, Penny answered his unspoken question. “He was lying about the uh-the other thing. He just wanted to scare you guys into listening to him. He just wanted to see how my powers worked,”

Penny felt Mr.Stark sag around her, breathing out a sigh of relief. He flipped his faceplate down and told her that she could rest for now, they were almost at the tower. Penny started falling asleep as they touched down, and felt Mr.Stark kiss the top of her head and whisper quiet thank god. Smiling, Penny let herself slip into a peaceful sleep.


	7. Isolation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry

Penny started off into the horizon, letting her mind wander. She was trying to decide what to do for today, unsure if she should go down and see her friends and family. She saw them yesterday already, but then again that was only in passing. Figuring that she could also swoop by some of her fans, Penny makes up hat mind and gets ready to go. 

Saying goodbye to her dog Tessa, Penny suited up and left her home, on the search for someone to interact with. She spots some people on her way down and swings past them, waving and calling out to each of them. Since wage wasn’t that far from her aunt May Penny decided to swoop in on her first, seeing if she was home. 

Through the apartment window Penny saw that May was having dinner with Happy again, both of them chatting over some take out. Penny watches for a few more minutes before continuing onwards, figuring she could see her aunt on her way back home later. 

Next was Ned who was with his family, him and his younger sister playing some video game on their switch together. Ned suddenly threw his hands up and covered his face, while his sister got up and danced around him. Penny giggled at the scene in front of her, but moved on before Ned looked out the window, swearing he heard his best friend. 

MJ was in Central Park, leading a small group in a protest over climate change. She was holding up a poster with the words “I stand for what I stand on. Protect it already. '' Penny could see everyone marching down the park, heading towards Times Square. She even spotted old Mr.Rogers sitting on one of the benches, watching over everything with a smile. Penny decided that they didn’t need Spider-Girl for this, especially since the police were barricading the surrounding streets to let the protest move forward. She swung away, happy that her friend was standing up for what she believes in and is making her voice heard. Deciding to instead go visit her mentor, Penny changed courses and swung towards Stark Tower. 

Swinging up to the top of the building, Penny wall-climber down to where she knew the Starks personal floor was. Sneaking in, she heard soft singing from one of the bedrooms. It’s pounded like Mrs.Potts-Stark, and she could her Morgan trying to sing along. Penny started singing along too, remembering hearing the same song a few years ago. 

Pepper stopped singing abruptly, and Penny head her get up front eh floor. Figuring she was interrupting a small family night, Penny crawled away, searching for Mr.Stark instead. 

When she last saw him he was still getting over the Infinity War. He took what happened to heart, along with all of his injuries. Remembering where he’s been hanging out for the last few weeks, Penny swings away once again, going further south from everyone. 

She spotted him lying in the grass, his head resting against a piece of stone. Penny slowly approached him, sitting next to his side. She decides to listen to him first before trying to communicate, wondering what was going on in his mind. 

She didn’t have to wait long before he started speaking, his voice sounding hoarse from misuse. 

“Hey Pen. Haven’t seen you in a while. Hope you’re having fun in your new home now. We’re all still here in New York. May is getting settled in with Happy still, they both seem to enjoy their new apartment. And Morgan has been asking about when she can come visit you. I told her soon enough, before we leave for the shore house again.”

Penny listened to him silently, waiting for the dam to break. She could already see his resolve failing, his external walls starting to crumble. 

“You know honey, I think I’m starting to understand why you did what you did. I still don’t agree with it, you know. I don’t think I ever could. But then again, I can never really ask you why you sacrificed yourself, can I? You’re gone from here, and I’m the one stuck here. It’s like that sound you wouldn’t stop singing… “Death doesn't discriminate, between the sinners and the saints, it takes and it takes and it takes. History obliterates, in every picture it paints it paints me and all my mistakes. When Alexander aimed at the sky he may have been the first one to die but I’m the one who paid for it. I survived but I paid for it.””

Mr.Stark took in a shuddering breath, and Penny tried to wrap her arms around his shoulders, wanting to comfort him. She missed, but still tried her best to offer some form of support for him. Mr.Stark had been holding onto his emotions for too long, only letting himself break at her funeral. Before Penny could think about that day, he continued speaking, letting the last of his walls fall down.

“You were the one to pay for it with your life, but I’m still paying for it down here. Every day I wish that I could trade places with you. I know that I would miss out on the rest of my family growing up together, but I’m missing you growing into the amazing and beautiful young woman you were supposed to be. You were supposed to be the best of us, the true saint in this world. I guess your sainthood meant that you would always sacrifice yourself in the end though. When you put on that gauntlet I swear my own heart stopped beating, praying that it wasn't happening. But I shouldn't have expected anything else, in hindsight. Now I’m the one paying for it down here. I get to survive but I’m paying for it. I’m so sorry honey. I should've been the one to wield the gauntlet. I should've been the one to die. You deserved to live. Not me. Not me...”

Mr.Stark started sobbing, leaning against her headstone. Penny gave up and tried her best to hug him, still missing his body, just wanting him to know she didn't blame him. That she was glad that she was the one who died. Mr.Stark deserved to live, he was her savior, not the other way around. Whispering his name, she felt him stiffen. Sitting back, she tried one more time to comfort him, her hand landing softly against his shoulder. 

He immediately turned towards her, his eyes trying to search for any sign, but she just smiled at him. She knew he wouldn't be able to see her, but she tried whispering to him again.   
“Please stop blaming yourself. I chose to wear the gauntlet for a reason. I wasn't about to let anyone else sacrifice themselves when I could’ve ended the war then and there. You all deserve to live, and I wasn't about to rip that away from any of you. You may think that I’m some saint, but youre my saint Mr.Stark. You helped me grow into the person who was able to save the universe. So thank you. And please, the only thing I want you to do is live. Let yourself be Mr.Stark, the real man behind the Iron Man mask. The man who is brilliant, amazing, selfless and loving. The man who has given himself to the world over and over again, and now has the world as his family. Go back to them and be happy. I'll be waiting for you when the time comes, but for now you've still got your life down here to live. So live it.”

Penny stood up and let Mr.Stark sit with his thoughts, hoping that he heard. Considering how he had a smile on his face, ignoring his tears for the moment, penny is pretty sure he heard her. Swinging back to her new home, Penny let herself succumb to her isolation. She knew it was better to be alone for a few decades, plus she had her dog by her side to give her some company. Penny went home, knowing she can always visit again tomorrow.


	8. Stab Wound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone suggested I use May already in my stories, so I decided to follow their advice. Also, sorry it cuts off abruptly at the end, but I figured this trope is really popular already in stories, plus those stories are already really well written and aren’t smushed into one chapter, so I decided to end it before it went down that path. Enjoy!

Penny held her hands against the wound, feeling blood pool around her fingers. No matter how hard she pressed the blood kept coming. She wasn’t even in her spider suit, so she couldn’t just web the wound closed. Feeling her mind flash back to her uncle Ben, Penny stares at her aunt bleeding out on the ground. 

Today started off pretty good for once. It was a Saturday so Penny didn’t have to worry about school, and her aunt May had worked a double yesterday plus on call the night before, so she was off for once. Deciding that since both of them were free, they should make the most out of it. 

First was breakfast from their favorite spot, getting fresh pastries and drinks before walking down Metro Ave. They caught each other up about what’s been happening since they last were able to have a day together; Penny talking about her internship with Mr.Stark and her adventures as Spider-Girl, May about the drama at her hospital and how the horrible nurses she’s stuck with in the ER screwed up this time. 

Reaching a small florist shop, they walked in and chose some beautiful but sensible bouquets, three in total. After getting them loosely tied together, they left and continued down their way, both going for the same destination without talking about it. 

They saw the sign fairly quickly, and they both felt a weight settle on their shoulders. Continuing inside, they walked past many gravestones until the found the ones they were looking for, all named Parker. 

Penny let May set up the flowers in front of her husband's grave while she kneeled in front of her parents. She took the other two bouquets and set them underneath their headstones, letting the sight sink into her. 

Once May finished with Bens grave, they switched spots so May could rearrange everything into a neat and beautiful display, and for Penny to pay her respects to her uncle. Despite everyone else saying differently, Penny still felt like her uncle's death was her own fault. While she knows she couldn’t have predicted that Ben was going to die that night, she was still the one to run out on them, and let Ben search for her at night. She practically led him to the man with the gun, and let him die when she could have prevented it. 

Now, however, she decides to take the weight that was pushing down on her shoulders, and use it as encouragement. She remembers him telling her when she was younger “With great power comes great responsibility”. While at the time Ben meant his job on the force, Penny decided to use that as her reason to get up and go fight crime as Spider-Girl. 

Once both of them have paid their respects, they walked out hand in hand, letting the depressing weight lift off their shoulders as they walked. As Penny went on in her word-vomit of everything she wanted to talk about, both of them decided to head back to the apartment for lunch. 

Once they reached home May decided that they should do something more fun. Since it was starting to get cold out, and it was October already, baking seemed like the perfect option. Gathering everything they would need to make a basic cookie recipe, they prepared everything together for their treat. 

In the end there was flour covering the counter, batter stuck to the fridge, chocolate chip bags completely eaten and two sheets of cookies burnt to a crisp. After the first two tries burning in the oven, Penny decided to take over baking the cookies and let May figure out what else to make for lunch that didn’t involve cooking. 

They ended up eating sandwiches together, sharing cookies and watching a Pixar movie. Both content to simply sit together and enjoy the moment, letting the emotions of the movie wash over them. Once it got later into the night, May suggested they order take out for dinner, not wanting to get the kitchen dirty again after they just cleaned it. Agreeing, Penny suggested Thai food since it was close to their apartment. 

After ordering and grabbing their food, they walked down the street laughing at the cashier trying to flirt with May. Penny was too busy having fun to check her surrounding, until she felt the familiar pulse at the back of her neck. Looking around her, Penny didn’t see anything that would be dangerous, sis he continued next to her aunt. 

Suddenly the pressure intensified, trying to warn her that something bad was about to happen. Spinning behind her, she looked for danger when she heard her aunt scream. Turning around again, she saw a shadowed figure pulling a knife from May, running front he scene with their food and Mays purse. 

Penny grabbed onto May, falling to her knees when she couldn’t stand. She put pressure against the wound, praying that she could stop the blood flow. Knowing that calling for help would involve moving her hands, Penny tried her best to cover the stab wound and grabbed around for her phone, stabbing 911 in hard enough to nearly crack the screen. 

The rest was a blur, she doesn’t remember talking to a dispatcher or how long they were in the ground, but next thing she knew she was in the same hospital May worked at, stuck in the waiting room after they wheeled her aunt away. Letting herself drop into a chair, Penny stared at her hands, looking at the blood seeping into the creases of her palms. Remembering the same scenario happening with her aunt, Penny shook her head to try and clear it. 

Maybe a few minutes later, maybe a few hours, Penny recognized one of the nurses that’s friends with her aunt coming towards her, a tight lipped smile on her face. She tries talking to Penny but all she hears is static, unable to process what’s happening around her. Letting the nurse stand her up and lead her away, she realizes that she’s helping her clean the blood off her body. The nurse-she needs to remember her name already- gives her a pair of scrubs to wear, showing her where to change and drop off her blood stained clothes. 

After she’s made herself as presentable as she could, Penny stepped out and saw the same nurse waiting for her, leading her towards an empty room instead of the waiting room. Penny is able to pick up from her “nurses station” and “sleep”, Penny figured this is where May and the other nurses slept when they were still on call after just finishing a shift. 

Penny nodded her head, and she thinks she said thank you, before sitting down on one of the cots. She spent more time just checked out from the world, letting her thoughts take over. Knowing that she should try and be productive somehow, Penny decided that she should at least call up her aunts recent boyfriend. Having his number still saved on her phone, she decides to give him a call, ignoring the time. 

“Hey Happy? We need to talk. Something happened with May.”


	9. Shackled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I had no idea what to write. Honestly I hate how it turned out, but I made a promise that i would do all the prompts to someone so here we go. Enjoy some garbage!

Penny started at the ceiling, getting bored. She had run out of things to do, and with her hands shackled it wasn’t easy to try and do anything that involved dexterity. Instead she tried reciting pi as many places as she could, and list every cube number in order from 8 onward. She got to the cube of 31 (29791) before her brain decided it was time to give up. Now she’s stuck here with nothing else left to do that would keep her entertained. 

Penny would’ve taken a nap, but the men who took her on her patrol threatened that if she fell asleep they would shock her. Penny then promptly told them to go screw themselves and tried to take a nap, but they actually did have small electrodes they placed on her that gave her a small shock. Honestly it didn’t even really hurt, but they kept pushing the button over and over so it got really annoying really fast. So instead she sat on the corner, staring up at the camera in her plain, dark cell (cliche much?) and found whatever she could to keep herself from falling asleep. 

It sucks too because Penny had barely gotten any sleep this past week, worrying about midterms coming up along with projects due soon, and trying to be Spider-Girl at night was really taking its toll on her. In total she got maybe 16 hours of sleep the past 6 days, so when Penny was on her patrol tonight, she didn’t really think straight as she heard a cry from help coming from an alley. Swinging into the middle of a robbery, Penny quickly defeated the two idiots trying to steal a wallet. Unfortunately, the civilian Penny was trying to help save hit her on the back of the head with something hard, and Penny was asleep before she fell to the floor. 

Waking up with her head pounding in her little dark cell, complete with rusty iron bars and everything, Penny was done. Knowing that they took her suit and web shooters, she wasn’t left with much in terms of defense. But a few weeks ago, Mr.Stark put in another tracker in her suit, with her consent to only record when she’s patrolling or ever injured. Penny lost her train of thought once she heard some people walking towards her, their footsteps echoing off the ground. Deciding that it’s not worth the effort to move, she stayed in her corner and let them come to her. About five people stopped in front of the iron bars, three with guns, one with a bag and one with a chair and set of keys. 

The man with the keys opened the cell and let the three armed men in, all surrounding Penny. The man with the bag took out a camera and tripod, setting it up in the center of the room. Penny got pulled to her feet by someone, set on the small chair before the camera. Bag guy took a pair of handcuffs out, wrapping them around her wrists behind the chair back. Armed guy one pointed their gun to her head, armed guys two and three standing behind her. Key guy stood in front of her, blocking her from the camera. 

Bag guy started recording Key guy, something about giving them 20 million dollars and whatever, pay by the end of the day blah blah blah. Instead she focused on a different sound, almost like a high pitched whining. At first she thought it was a cartoon sound, but it kept getting louder. Suddenly she heard a repulsed charging up, and she felt the entire cell shake. 

Iron Man appeared in front of the cell bars, ripping them off their hinges. War Machine appeared and started taking out the men surrounding her, their bullets ricocheting off the high tech armor. As that was happening Mr.Stark came up behind her, snapping the handcuffs off her wrists. Before she could move he swept her up in a bridal carry, shooting off from the little hell hole. Before Penny could say anything, she fell unconscious. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Penny started waking up, she first felt warmth. It wasn’t bad, it was more comforting. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was in the med bay again, lying in a bed. She had multiple blankets on top of her, and a sleeping Mr.Stark by her side. She put her hand on top of his head, much like he always does with her. Figuring that she could use some sleep too, she went back to bed, allowing herself to make up for the sleep she lost last week.


	10. Waking up Restrained & Prompt "Golddigger"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I actually wasn't planning on doing whumptober, but figured I had waited long enough to continue this so why not? Here's prompt one: Waking up Restrained

Penny wasn't sure how she got into this mess. Usually she can point out where she went wrong, like when she tried to take on ten guys at once while Karen was broken, or when she thought that she could try mixing her webs with metal to try and create more resistant webs for villans like the Rhino. (She can still see the residue on the ceiling when she walks into Mr.Stark lab) But this she can’t really figure out where she went wrong this time. Maybe it was just talking with this crazy lady in the first place, but whatever.

A few weeks ago, Penny was at another one of Mr.Starks galas. He was celebrating her invention of artificial blood and plasma going to market, and invited Penny along as the co-creator. Originally she was against this, but as May pointed out, being able to come up with a way for artificial blood to be manufactured, allowing it to not be refrigerated and stored for a longer period of time, and be able to donate it to nations in need and not worry about it reacting with patients is an amazing feat she should be proud of and allow herself to take some of the credit. Mr.Stark even tried getting Penny to only place her name on the journal and patent, but considering how much he had helped in the beginning stage and supplying her with everything she needed to come up with it. In the end she agreed with both of them as long as she could add Mr.Stark to the patent and cite May as her primary inspiration. 

After she had let Mr.Stark introduce her to all the important people at the party, she decided to take a breather with Doctor Banner and Doctor Strange while him and Ms.Pepper went to dance on the main floor. All three of them were talking about her invention and how her process had been getting towards the final product, laughing together about the many late nights spent stressing over their own inventions and studies. Both doctors then shared their own stories of many late nights. She was in the middle of laughing at Doctor Strange's story of how his assistant had fallen asleep during a 22 hour surgery when her Spidey-Sense gave her a warning. Scanning around the room, Penny saw a small commotion near the bar. Excusing herself, Penny quickly slipped to the bar to see what was happening. 

Once she reached the commotion, Penny saw that a drunk man was grabbing onto a woman and was saying something to her. Before she could try and focus on their conversation around the other noise going on, the guy dragged the woman off her stool and got in her face. Penny decided that this was too much and grabbed onto the guys shoulder. With one tug from her hand the guy spun around, too drunk to even fully keep his balance. Smelling the alcohol on his breath even stronger once facing him, Penny let the guy fail to regain his balance whilst giving the woman a chance to escape.

Once the guy finally got his feet under him, he started slurring at Penny and causing more of a scene. Just as the guy started pulling back his arm to hit her, security suddenly came in and grabbed the guy and dragged him outside. Doctor Banner and Doctor Strange then both came up next to her, asking if she was alright and checking to make sure that nothing else had happened. After assuring them that she was alright and that the guy hadn’t done anything to her, she asked them if they could just make sure that the guy was being taken of while she checked in the other woman. After assuring them again that she was fine and that she could handle checking on the other woman, they both agreed and went off. 

Finding the woman near the bar again Penny cautiously approached her, introducing herself and asking if she was alright. The woman seemed to analyze Penny before introducing herself as Brianna Daniels. Turns out that she came to the party with her boyfriend when she stumbled across her ex, who was drunk and angry to see her. After speaking for a bit and trying to calm him down, thats when Penny had arrived and helped with the situation. After she was able to get away Ms.Daniels then stayed at the bar to watch and make sure that the guy was taken out. 

Penny then stayed with her, talking for another hour about multiple things, even laughing with her over some of her stories. Turns out her boyfriend was one of the head surgeons at New York Presbyterian and was very interested in her invention. Meanwhile Daniels was a nurse but had changed jobs recently due to stress from the job. Getting to hear about some of her patients and stories, Penny felt much more relaxed compared to the beginning of the party. After exchanging information and helping Ms.Daniels to the lobby to wait for her boyfriend, Penny spent the rest of the evening with her favorite people and just relaxed. 

It took a few days before Ms.Daniels decided to contact Penny about her invention and seeing if they could meet up to talk about it some more. Agreeing to meet over coffee, Penny decided to put off patrolling for a few hours that day, deciding that instead she could ask her some more about some of the patients she's had over the years, hoping that maybe she could get some inspiration on how to help out more people from a medical standpoint.

They met up soon after and Penny was able to ask her about some stories, but could tell that Ms. Daniels didn't want to talk as much about her nursing job. In turn she had asked Penny about her invention and the inspiration behind it. After hearing about her working on it in Mr.Stark's lab, she then asked about her relationship with him and how they work together. Deciding to be cautious while knowing that she had probably seen them together, Penny decided to play the usual intern trope and just say that she happened to work together with him and that he supplied her with everything for research within reason. 

She then kept asking about her internship, about Mr.Stark and everything to do with the labs and tower. Deciding that she was probably just a fan of his, she told her what she felt was safe and answered what questions she could, avoiding things that a normal intern-even close to Stark, shouldn't know. While it seemed that Ms.Daniels was searching for some sort of answer, it didn't feel like she was someone that would hurt Mr.Stark, and she didn’t ask anything incriminating, so she ignored the tiny hum at the back of her mind.

After that meeting they usually texted every few days, mainly talking again about her internship and Mr.Stark, and met up twice more. On the third time Ms.Daniels asked her to go shopping together and after checking in with May and grabbing the spare cash she had, they soon met up near 5th ave. Penny didn't know that Ms.Daniels originally planned on shopping in the ridiculously expensive luxury stores and wasn't sure how to tell her that she didn't really shop near any of these stores and was more used shopping at lower end places. In the end she agreed to just go along with Ms.Daniels while she shopped and pretend like she could afford the ridiculous prices in these stores. Seriously, who needs a 50 dollar baseball hat?? But, Ms.Daniels seemed very happy and was indeed buying the ridiculous clothes, so Penny just let her be happy and instead looked for anything that was more her style and price range.

After jumping between stores for two hours they sat down at a StarBucks, Ms.Daniels carrying multiple bags with her while Penny only had a T-Shirt she bought. Ms.Daniels offered to get Penny her drink if she found them a place to sit. Agreeing, Penny took all of her bags and found a nice spot in the back for them to relax. 

Once Ms.Daniels had both of their drinks, she met Penny by the tables and started asking about Mr.Stark again. Ignoring her spidey sense humming louder, she started answering the questions again while drinking the sugary drink Ms.Daniels got her. Just as she swallowed her drink her spidey sense gave off a large warning, causing Penny to jolt in her seat and look around. 

Everything around them seemed calm, there was nothing going on other than shoppers moving around. Looking for people who might be stealing, Penny tried to respond to Ms.Daniels asking if she was alright. However, when she tried to turn back and say she was alright, her head suddenly swam, making her feel nauseous. Feeling panic grip her heart, Penny tried telling her that something was wrong and that she didn’t feel well. Just as she looked up at Ms.Daniels smirking face, her spidey sense again jolted her before she passed out. 

When Penny woke up she felt her spidey sense pulsing at the back of her skull. She heard something moving nearby and decided that it would be smarter to pretend she was still unconscious. She felt rope tying her arms and legs to a chair, and something metallic around her neck and covering her mouth. The place she was in smelled of mold and old water, and the air felt cold. Trying her best not to shiver, she instead listened to the rustling behind her.

There was some light beeping sound and something like a keyboard being pushed, along with someone making sounds of frustration. Penny tried figuring out who was making those sounds before remembering everything that happened. Unfortunately she jolted once she remembered Ms.Daniels and caught the attention of the other person in the room. 

Ms.Daniels walked out in front of Penny smiling and holding a laptop in her hand. She set the laptop down on a table in front of Penny and walked back around her, leaving Penny to her current thoughts. So maybe it really is Pennys fault she currently stuck in this mess, but how was she to know that this lady was crazy? Before she could continue her train of thought Ms.Daniels finally spoke up.

“So Penny, have a nice nap? Sure seemed like it before, it was fun trying to explain to the cashier that you just fell asleep. Anyways, lets get this started shall we?”

With that she turned on the laptop and walked in front of Penny. She stood directly in her line of sight of the laptop and started talking this time to the camera.

“Hello Stark lovely to see you again. Not sure if you remember me, then again how could you forget. We dated so many years ago, but then you decided to toss me aside like i was nothing. Now you're with that worthless secretary, and it seems like youve got your own new play things. Want to say hello dear?”

With that Ms.Daniels stepped aside from the laptop, leaving it directly in front of Penny. She could see Mr.Starks face go from annoyance to fear once he saw her. Penny tried showing to him that she was ok, but when she tried moving she was suddenly yanked back by the thing around her neck.

“You see Stark, I've found this little thing at one of your last parties. Very smart, and pretty too. No wonder you like keeping her around. Now, she's here with me right now to help get some payback on you. I’ve had enough of you and your pompous ass going around and doing as you please. That could've been us, buying anything under the sun and living a life of luxury. But no, you had to change that. So now im going to ask you, to give me at least 100 million dollars within the next hour, or your little intern here is going to experience the same hell you've put me through. And if you try coming near her before I have my money, this little device will explode her head clean off. Well, maybe not clean. I’ll gladly give you whatever remains after though. Choose wisely, i expect my money soon.”

Ms.Daniels then shuts the laptop down quickly and hits it with a hammer, leaving it useless. She then reaches for something else on the table before turning back to Penny. Seeing the needle in her hand, she tries struggling before the needle is suddenly stuck in her arm, injecting whatever was inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically a cliffhanger, but it'll continue in the next chapter, which I'll post once I'm done on maybe an hour. Also, this was for a person who commented on my work before, I can't find the comment but thank you for the prompt golddigger!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heres the second part of whumptober, and a continuation of the first part. I'm so glad that so many of you are actually enjoying this story, so thank you. Enjoy

When Penny woke up again it was to a massive headache. She could still feel the collar around her neck and mouth, and felt the rope tied around her still. Her hands were now in front of her resting on the chair arms, and her feet and legs were tied together. She knew she could break out easily, but remembering what the crazy lady had said before, she didn’t want to risk the collar going off early. Not to mention that her body was still working through whatever was in her system. Listening in, she could hear Ms.Daniels behind her again, pacing around and muttering to herself. Deciding instead to focus on her surroundings, Penny carefully opened her eyes and looked around.

She could see she was in a dark room, most likely a basement by the high windows and the same musty old water smell. She could still see the table in front of her, with the smashed in laptop. There's a tray on top of it, but she couldn't see what was in it. There was also a camera and a tripod, along with some towels and a pot with something steaming inside it. Trying to look out the windows to figure out where she is, Penny can only see cut grass and rocks outside. She's about to keep looking around when her spidey sense gives her a warning.

Ms.Daniels suddenly slams something behind her, making her jump. Hearing her come around, Penny thinks about pretending to be asleep but gives up once it's clear she can see she's awake. She stares at Ms.Daniels as she stalks around the table, grabbing something from the tray. 

“You know Penny, I’m not a bad person. I’m truly not. I just like what I like in life, and that includes living in luxury. And take a look at Stark over there, he has everything he could ever want in life, could easily own anything he wanted, and yet doesn’t. Why? Why bother having all that money and power if he’s not even going to use it properly? It just doesn’t make sense. In reality i’m doing him a favor, I’m teaching him that if he doesn’t do what's right then there's going to be consequences. You just happened to get in the middle.”

She starts walking around Penny while twirling a knife in her hand.

“Hopefully he gives me that money soon, your hour is almost up. You’d think, with all the time he spends with you and how he practically showed you off at his last party that he’d be faster trying to help you. And he knows what's going to happen if he shows up over here before I get my money. I don’t want to dirty up my clothes with your blood, but a promise is a promise.”

Right after she finished talking, she threw the knife past Penny towards the wall. It hit it with a clang before hitting the floor. Ms.Daniels then grabs Penny’s shoulders before starting to yell.

“I just want what is rightfully mine. I was meant to have everything. I was meant to be rich and famous and beautiful and everything. Instead I'm stuck in this boring life, in this boring disgusting home, and for what? To keep scamming pathetic men out of their money? To keep finding new men to get money from? To keep running out of money and men, to be paying back bill after bill without enjoying anything?”

Ms.Daniels throws papers and bills at Penny seconds before a buzzer goes off. Ms.Daniels walks past Penny to something behind her, before yelling in frustration and stalking back to the table. She grabs the camera and tripod and sets it up in front of her, pointing straight at her. She then starts moving things around on the table, leaving time for Penny to look down at the papers by her feet. What she failed to realize when throwing them at Penny, the bills have the address of the house. Making out the small print, she's able to figure out what it says before Ms.Daniels turns back to her.

She moves in front of the camera, standing in front of her again before turning it on and speaking.

“Hello Stark. I must say, I’m very disappointed. I thought that you would have immediately paid me in order to keep your little girl here safe. Guess she's not that important to you, huh?”

Penny feels a pain in her chest when she hears her say that. She decides to ignore to pay attention to what was in front of her and wait for her opening.

“Well now it seems like it's time for me to hold up my end of the bargain, hm? Pretty Penny here will have to pay for you not giving me what's mine. Let’s start with a nice manicure”

Once she left the view of the camera Penny started blinking at the camera in morse code as best as she could. She tried spelling out to the camera the address, and once she did that twice she spelled out “Don't give her money I’ll be fine”. Even though she knew that Mr.Stark didn’t pay the first time, she still didn’t want him to pay her despite hurting her. She won’t make him give up his money just because she screwed up.

Ms.Daniels walked back over to Penny with the hammer in her hand. Penny felt her heart pounding in her chest but refused to show any fear. She knew she just had to stay strong and not focus on the pain or the collar around her neck. She just needed to wait until she could get away.

The hammer slammed down onto the back of her hand, and Penny barely kept in her scream. She could already feel that her hand was broken, pain shooting up her whole arm when she tried moving it. Before she could react the hammer came down again on her other hand, rendering her nearly paralyzed in pain. Ms.Daniels threw the hammer onto the table before picking up one of the towels.

“Such a beautiful manicure hm? Nice shade of red. Let's move on to a relaxing facial, help take care of those pores.”

She threw the towel over her head, draping down the sides of her face and covering her eyes. She heard her walk away before picking up something and walking back. Penny wanted to run like her spidey sense was screaming for her to, but she was stuck frozen in pain.

All of a sudden ms.Daniels poured the boiling water over her head, soaking into the cloth and dripping down her and burning her. She couldn’t hold back her screams anymore in the pure pain and agony she was on. She could feel her skin burning as the water travelled down, leaving the towel soaked. She couldn't tell when the water stopped, the twel starting to cling to her skin. It got harder to breathe with the hot water and suffocating towel surrounding her. She eventually felt herself drifting out of consciousness while struggling to breathe.

The next time Penny woke up was to the sound of screaming. Thankfully it wasn't her own, but she recognized the voice screaming. It sounded a lot like Mr.Stark.

“What the hell did you do to her? What the hell did you do? I told you I don’t fucking care what you want, take it all just leave her the hell alone! Give me back my kid!”

She heard a broken sob before hearing some say quietly “Please. Just give me back my kid.”

“In that case my price just went up. Get me 500 million dollars, my own private jet and private pilot, and my own luxury car within the next ten minutes. I want it ready for me at the MacArthur Airport, if you don’t have it ready there in time you can instead find what's left of pretty little Penny.”

She heard a slam happen in front of her, but knew not to react this time. They were going to be moving. Ms.Daniels was going to have to untie her to get her moving. This may be the only shot she had.

She pretended to still be out of it while hearing her move around and gather stuff around her. She seemed to be in a rush, muttering to herself and backtracking a lot. In that time Penny tried moving her hands slightly to see how bad the damage was. It seemed like her hands had started healing, and while it was still very painful to try and clench her fist, she knew she had one chance to make it out.

Eventually Ms.Daniels made her way to her and slapped her. Penny tried not to flinch and instead let her head move loosely. She did it one more time before seeming to believe she was out of it and moved to untie her legs. Penny reamined still until the rope around both her arms and legs were removed, and Ms.Daniels turned from her to the table. 

Realizing her chance, Penny stood up and grabbed the rope from the ground, using it to grab Ms.Daniels and hold her in almost a choke hold. She held it tight with one hand while pulling her fist back and slamming it into the back of her head while she was trying to claw at the rope. The punch seemed to knock her out, so Penny took the rope and tied her up to the same chair, making sure there was no way to escape.

From there she grabbed the new computer that was on the table, along with the camera and booked it from the room. She could tell from there that she was in the basement of a home, and tried to quietly go up the stairs. Listening at the top, it didn’t seem like there was anyone else in the house and opened the door.

It looked like a normal house, if not a bit old and run down. Seeing a phone in the kitchen, she threw the computer and camera on the count and dialed the number Mr.Stark had drilled into her head. He said to never share it and only use it on her own secure phone, but this time should be excused. She prayed that he would pick up and wouldn't be too busy, but it seemed like he was free since he answered on the second ring.

“Who are you and how did you get this number? I swear to god if you got this out of the kid i will take your useless disgusting as-”

Penny decided to interrupt then. “Mr.Stark it's me. I’m sorry but I kinda need your help, I’m still at this ladies house and she's tied up downstairs and-”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence when all of a sudden the front door caved in. She didn’t even hear anyone come near the house, but suddenly there was an Iron Man suit in front of her, staring at her. She stared back, unsure what to do when all of a sudden multiple people rushed into the house and the front of the Iron Man suit popped open and Mr.Stark himself climbed out of the suit and rushed towards her. He held his hands in front of her, hesitating while inspecting her. Apparently he was satisfied when he suddenly grabbed her and crushed her against his chest, cradling her head. She felt something wet drop down on her head, and tried not to cry while in his arms. It wasn’t until she finally felt safe now, until her head finally stopped screaming at her and she stopped worrying about her injuries and the collar around her neck.

Mr.Stark pulled back and looked back at her, trying to hide his grimace. She could tell that it was bad from what he saw, but she just shrugged and looked up at him. He gently took her chin and tilted it side to side, inspecting her face and neck. From there he looked at the collar and felt him tense.

“Alright sweety, let's get this thing off of you and then we'll get you home ok? I don’t want to trip anything by leaving the house.”

She agreed and sat at the kitchen table in front of Mr.Stark while he and what looked like a medic fully inspected her. She heard the men behind her carry up Ms.DAniels, restrained in handcuffs and still out of it. Looking up, she saw pure hatred in Mr.Starks eyes as he watched her get dragged out of the house. Once he saw her staring at him, he smiled slightly and smoothed back her hair while focusing back on the collar.

Turns out the switch for it was in the other laptop she dragged upstairs, and once they shut down the program the collar unlocked from her neck and mouth. Taking a full deep breath in, she smiled up at him and saw him sadly smile back. The medic continued checking her injuries while Mr.Stark started asking about them.

She explained what had happened, and both on the camera and what happened a few minutes ago. She probably broke her hand again from punching her in the back of the head, but Mr.Stark almost seemed proud of that when she explained. He told her that they would get her fully checked out back at the tower, but for now the medic would just set her up to travel.

Once she was wrapped up and her hands secured, Mr.Stark gently led her outside and onto a quinjet with his arm around her shoulders. He kept his arm there as they secured themselves in the back, checking with her every few minutes. She felt herself relaxing in his hold and accidentally bumping into his shoulder, but he just pulled her towards him and settled a blanket around her. Before finally falling asleep, she swore she felt a kiss on top of her head and someone whisper “Thank you”.


End file.
